We want to rewrite the entire H3 engine (VCMI is NOT another mod) giving it new possibilities. Years of intensive work resulted in creating application with impressive amount of features. Among current features are:

Complete gameplay mechanics

Almost all objects, abilities, spells and other content

Basic battle AI and adventure AI

Many GUI improvements: high resolutions, stack queue, creature window

Advanced and easy mod support - add new towns, creatures, heroes, artifacts and spells without limits or conflicts

A lot of work has been done to ensure game stability. A number of "impossible" crash bugs were tracked down and fixed. This opens up chance for better multiplayer support in the future.
RMG has undergone huge improvement, it is now not only closely resembling OH3, but also works much faster. Bonus is about 150 random map templates ported from original game and fan favourites.
Pretty much every aspect has been improved. Pay close attention to spells and cheat codes. Flying spells and artifacts have been restored as well as ability icons in Creature Window. Over 1400 commits were done since previous release 0.98, which means something.

Since 0.98f over 100 bugs have been fixed. Since 0.98 it's difficult to count. For the first time in history more bugs are being fixed than reported ;)

We recommend you first make a copy of clean Heroes Complete / Shadow of Death folder. Extract VCMI zip package there.
WoG is not needed. All recommended mods and files can be downloaded via Launcher included in the package.

Changelog:

Code:

GENERAL:
* New Bonus NO_TERRAIN_PENALTY
* Nomads will remove Sand movement penalty from army
* Flying and water walking is now supported in pathfinder
* New artifacts supported
- Angel Wings
- Boots of Levitation
* Implemented rumors in tavern window
* New cheat codes:
- vcmiglaurung - gives 5000 crystal dragons into each slot
- vcmiungoliant - conceal fog of war for current player
* New console commands:
- gosolo - AI take control over human players and vice versa
- controlai - give control of one or all AIs to player
- set hideSystemMessages on/off - supress server messages in chat

RANDOM MAP GENERATOR:
* Changed fractalization algorithm so it can create cycles
* Zones will not have straight paths anymore, they are totally random
* Generated zones will have different size depending on template setting
* Added Thieves Guild random object (1 per zone)
* Added Seer Huts with quests that match OH3
* RMG will guarantee at least 100 pairs of Monoliths are available even if there are not enough different defs

Previous release 0.97 was not very satisfactory, it has a number of issues with AI as well as crashbugs. Luckily now all these problems are solved and you can play new VCMI 0.98 with no problems.

Finally all the spells in game are supported. New additions include missing adventure spells and Earthquake.
An important new feature is World View option. You will also notice nice fading effect on picked treasures and adventure map transitions.
Pathfinder and AI are allowed to use Monoliths to teleport between different parts of map. This should substantailly improve your game experience.

RMG got significant improvements to balance and look. Most prominent feature is presence of rock tunnels in the underground level.

Savegame format has changed since 0.97, but you still will be able to load games from 0.97c.

We recommend you first make a copy of clean Heroes Complete / Shadow of Death folder. Extract VCMI zip package there.
WoG is not needed. All recommended mods and files can be downloaded via Launcher included in the package.

Changelog:

Quote:

0.97 -> 0.98
GENERAL:
* Pathfinder can now find way using Monoliths and Whirlpools (only used if hero has protection)

ADVENTURE AI:
* AI will try to use Monolith entrances for exploration
* AI will now always revisit each exit of two way monolith if exit no longer visible
* AI will eagerly pick guarded and blocked treasures

vcmiclient --loadplayer 1 --loadserverip 127.0.0.1 --loadserverport 3030 #connect to server at 127.0.0.1 port #3030, but do not start a server there, and control player 1 (Blue) from this client. Do not control AI players from this client.

Enjoy new version!

Installation

We recommend you first make a copy of clean Heroes Complete / Shadow of Death folder. Extract VCMI zip package there.
WoG is not needed. All recommended mods and files can be downloaded via Launcher included in the package.

ADVENTURE AI:
* Significantly optimized execution time, AI should be much faster now.

ADVENTURE MAP:
* Non-latin characters can now be entered in chat window or used for save names.
* Implemented separate speed for owned heroes and heroes owned by other players

GRAPHICS:
* Better upscaling when running in fullscreen mode.
* New creature/commader window
* New resolutions and bonus icons are now part of a separate mod
* Added graphics for GENERAL_DAMAGE_REDUCTION bonus (Kuririn)

RANDOM MAP GENERATOR:
* Random map generator now creates complete and playable maps, should match original RMG
* All important features from original map templates are implemented
* Fixed major crash on removing objects
* Undeground zones will look just like surface zones

We are happy to announce next release, VCMI 0.96. This version brings many new features and improvements.

Old spells can be configured, new spells can be added in mods. Refer to Spell Format for details.
Launcher now supports submods and more detailed info. Refer to Modding changelog for all the details.
Random map generator was significantly advanced. It is not complete yet, though you may want to watch generated maps with vcmieagles cheat. Unfortunatelly, you can't play them.
Last but not least, adventure map objects have undergone major rework. This allows to add and replace new graphics for adventure objects and opens up future modding possibilities.

All the features mentioned are advancing and will be improved in upcoming version. Our team has grew significantly, past month was the most active month in our repository ever. Thanks to all developers and testers who contributed to this build, especially the new ones :).

Installation:
Extract the package into your main Heroes folder. If you have older version of VCMI, delete it first.
VCMI works with SoD, WoG 3.58f and ERA installations. We recommend using English version, though VCMI should also work with other language versions. If you want to make your H3 installation English, extract this package into Data/ subfolder.

MODS:
* Support for submods - mod may have their own "submods" located in <modname>/Mods directory
* Mods may provide their own changelogs and screenshots that will be visible in Launcher
* Mods can now add new (offensive, buffs, debuffs) spells and change existing
* Mods can use custom mage guild background pictures and videos for taverns, setting of resources daily income for buildings

GENERAL:
* Added configuring of heroes quantity per player allowed in game

Visit VCMI wiki for more modetails about our project.
Report any bugs on our bugtracker.
Please support VCMI on this forum and on Github